Cameron Highlands - Tea with cool comfort

The Cameron Highlands is a vast area of rolling green hills, tea plantations and forest. Keen to escape the heat and get a good cup of tea, we headed for these lush surroundings. We stayed at Father's Guesthouse - lovely, clean and friendly. Just what we needed after our accommodation horrors in the jungle.

As usual, we decided a scooter would be a great way to explore the area (they are useful little things). We set off, stopped at a butterfly farm, honey bee farm and of course a tea plantation. As we sat on the veranda overlooking the rows and rows of tea hedges, the clouds rolled down the valley. 2 hours later, the rain finally cleared and we headed out to the scooter to finish our exploration. The scooter however, had other plans. Half way out of the car park the chain broke. After another 2 hours and every spare male and his tool kit, we were on our way. By this stage it was getting dark and cold so we stopped for some tasty night market food. Wild mushroom tempura, Yum!


The next day dawned bright and clear and we (read: Tash) decided it was time for some more walking. (Greg may have been suffering from a bit of travel night runs) We headed out on trail 9A - a lovely walk though the sub-tropical rainforest. Strangely, at one point we found 5 dogs barking madly at a small pack of monkeys in the trees. At the end of the trail we headed up to the BOH (Best of Highlands) tea estate. The Lonely Planet mentions the walk is only 45 minutes. It does not mention however that the walk is completely up hill. An hour later we finally reached the top, hopeful that the place served food as well as tea. Thankfully we were rewarded with tuna and cucumber sandwiches, followed by tea and scones with strawberry jam.

Eventually we persuaded ourselves to set off on the 6km walk back to the main road. When we got there (downhill is so much easier!) the signs told us we still had 9kms to go. But before this information had time to settle in our minds, a beaten up old land rover (and there are hundreds of the things around here) pulled over with the offer of a lift, which we gleefully accepted. Being used to Thai hospitality we were amazed that our saviour asked for nothing more than conversation.

Next stop Melacca.........